Jesus and Siddhartha Gautama

Cypress said:
Militant in-your-face atheists bug me almost as much as bible thumping fundamentalist Christian jihadists...
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Agreed, which harkens back to an earlier point: Religion (or politics) doesn't make people crazy, but crazy people are drawn to political and/or religious causes (atheism included) as a means to justify their insanity.

Cypress said:
...Religious spirituality is a personal choice. If nothing else, I know of people for whom a devout Christian faith sustained them through their darkest days in the Gulag in a way that Voltaire's Candide, Isaac Newton's Principia, or Darwin's Origin of Species never could have.
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Agreed on personal choice. Even atheism. One's personal life choices is not an excuse to force others to make the same choice(s).
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Agreed, which harkens back to an earlier point: Religion (or politics) doesn't make people crazy, but crazy people are drawn to political and/or religious causes (atheism included) as a means to justify their insanity.


Agreed on personal choice. Even atheism. One's personal life choices is not an excuse to force others to make the same choice(s).
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I believe authentic Christians, principled agnostics, and reasonable aetheists are not crusading on obscure message boards, conducting jihads against their perceived theological rivals.

I maintain that genuinely pious Christians do not wear their faith on their sleeve
 
Cypress said:
I believe authentic Christians, principled agnostics, and reasonable aetheists are not crusading on obscure message boards, conducting jihads against their perceived theological rivals.

I maintain that genuinely pious Christians do not wear their faith on their sleeve
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Agreed. They walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
 
Michael_Panetta said:
If you strip away the mythological aspects of the Jesus story, you're left with "teachings" that appear to have been copied from a text called "The Book of Enoch," which was written about a century prior. A lot of Jesus' sayings are directly from that text. It's clear that the early Jesus believers created him from a hodgepodge of sources.

Why doesn't Philo of Alexandra mention Jesus? He was a first-century Jewish writer who wrote about the most minute happenings in Jerusalem. Why is he silent on Jesus? He talks about Pilate and Herod and other people, but is silent about the miracle man who spent three years wandering Israel and allegedly had thousands of followers.
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Why did the whole Quisling Establishment miss commenting on the use of the Book of Enoch to put down the heretics? Where did the early Christians come from? What great novelist before his time created the character Jesus? 'From a hodgepodge of sources'? - can't be done, mate. And as to Philo, does he mention any other than the usual Establishment figures? The history of that time is quite remarkable in it's lack of interest in ordinary people. The four hundred years of Britannia as a Roman territory, for instance, scarcely produces a single detail about ordinary people. The key point, I think, is that you have never studied practical criticism. The New Testament (leaving out Revelations, for which we lack the code) just doesn't read like myth.
 
Happy Easter to atheists and Christians alike

Neither militant atheism nor militant Christianity is a good look, but I think we can all agree that any holiday which involves big ass basket of candy is pretty freaking awesome!
 
Cypress said:
I believe authentic Christians, principled agnostics, and reasonable aetheists are not crusading on obscure message boards, conducting jihads against their perceived theological rivals.

I maintain that genuinely pious Christians do not wear their faith on their sleeve
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AMEN!!!!
 
Not sure King James quite knew what to name the savior- but anyway Jesus it is!

From everything I've read, Jesus studied in Damascus through his teens. India? Perhaps! Who really knows?

And regardless as to whether he was the son of a God, or whether he is just a myth, he has always been my number 1 hero and most admired being that ever walked the earth.

Unfortunately, some of my other heroes probably didn't exist either such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Tarzan, Santa Clause, Robin Hood and etc

That's OK, doesn't matter, they are still my heroes.
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
Not sure King James quite knew what to name the savior- but anyway Jesus it is!

From everything I've read, Jesus studied in Damascus through his teens. India? Perhaps! Who really knows?

And regardless as to whether he was the son of a God, or whether he is just a myth, he has always been my number 1 hero and most admired being that ever walked the earth.

Unfortunately, some of my other heroes probably didn't exist either such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Tarzan, Santa Clause, Robin Hood and etc

That's OK, doesn't matter, they are still my heroes.
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Except for Tarzan, all of those people have a basis in fact, in reality. All that really changed is, like the game of "Telephone", they became larger than life. They are dead, but the basic truths they spoke above is alive and well. Which is more important; the person or the idea?
 
Penderyn said:
Where does Jesus say, 'I agree with the Jewish law as interpreted by the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees'? Amongst cranky McCarthyites, who would say, 'I think a great deal of American law is horseshit?' I honestly think you take all this Jahweh stuff far too seriously.
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It is abundantly clear from the record that freedom in a social or political sense was not what concerned Jesus.

He was obviously focused on a higher form of freedom: a form of freedom which depends on cultivating a moral or spiritual truth which would free one to transcend from dangerous attachments to materialism, wealth, and the petty addictions of this world. A transcendent level of truth which would result in freedom from ignorance, sin and fear..
 
Cypress said:
It is abundantly clear from the record that freedom in a social or political sense was not what concerned Jesus.

He was obviously focused on a higher form of freedom: a form of freedom which depends on cultivating a moral or spiritual truth which would free one to transcend from dangerous attachments to materialism, wealth, and the petty addictions of this world. A transcendent level of truth which would result in freedom from ignorance, sin and fear..
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No such thing is abundantly clear to me: what I read suggests he took it for granted. As the early Church demonstrated, his early version of socialism was not into transcendence, though it is difficult to get back behind the Pauline remake certainly.
 
Cypress said:
It is abundantly clear from the record that freedom in a social or political sense was not what concerned Jesus.

He was obviously focused on a higher form of freedom: a form of freedom which depends on cultivating a moral or spiritual truth which would free one to transcend from dangerous attachments to materialism, wealth, and the petty addictions of this world. A transcendent level of truth which would result in freedom from ignorance, sin and fear..
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Agreed the focus of Jesus was on one's eternal soul, not material things. Funny how those who claim to be the most religious forget that part.
 
jacksonsprat22 said:
Where did Jesus say the soul was immortal?
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Several places but my favorite is this:
Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Several places but my favorite is this:
Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
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None of those addressed the question.
 
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